Month: December 2014

Game 11 vs. LAK – Ovechkin in the 1st, Jokinen in the 2nd, LA protects the 2-0 lead until late in the 3rd when Devils rookie Eric Gelinas scores to make it a 1 goal game. Brayden Schenn takes a penalty with less than 2 minutes left, Devils pull Lundqvist to try an get the equalizer but Jokinen deposits his 2nd of the game into the empty net, 3-1 Kings win.

Game 12 vs. NYI – Bergeron scores for the Islanders 3 minutes in, road team protects the lead until the 3rd period when Gelinas scores on a PP rebound to tie it up. Jagr would score the go ahead goal with 6 minutes left and Lundqvist would shut the door the rest of the way, 2-1 Devils.

Game 13 vs. PHI – New Jersey gives King Henrik a rest in favor of rookie Eddie Lack, and for the 3rd straight game the road team would score first (and on the 1st rating too, annoying), Neal pots the PP marker just 1:43 in. Tatar would even it later in the period, but the teams would go on to trade goals the rest of the game: Perreaultt, Bonino and Goligoski in the 2nd, Berglund and Neal again in the 3rd. Neither goalie was very good but Crawford gave up one less, 4-3 Philly.

Game 14 vs. STL – the Blues dominate period 1 but the Devils get the only goal by Bonino, 1-0 after 1. Likewise the Devils controlled the play in the 2nd but St. Louis would score the only goal (Turris) to tie it 1-1 after 2 periods. Ice must have been tilted, as the pendulum swung in the Blues favor again but Lack was outstanding (for once), stopping 11 of 12 ratings total, allowing Franson to score the game winning PP goal, 2-1 Devils.

Game 15 vs. BUF – just 27 seconds in Devils rookie D-man Gelinas scores off a Jagr rebound for a quick 1-0 lead. Franzen would even it up with the only goal of the 2nd period, but Tatar would score for New Jersey early in the 3rd to give the home team the lead. With less than 3 minutes left Sabre Erik Johnson takes a penalty; desperate to tie Buffalo pulls Bobrovsky with control of the puck but quickly cough it up to former player Jagr, who finds Gelinas again for the PP empty-netter. 3-1 Devils.

Devils manage to win 3 of 5 games despite only scoring 11 goals. Can’t rely this heavily on the goaltenders and expect to keep winning….

After the Leafs took a 1-0 lead in the first, the Kings took advantage of a pair of Leaf penalties in the second and headed tot he third with a 2-1 lead. Alex Ovechkin made it 3-1 quickly in the third, but Evander Kane scored a minute and a half later to cut it to 3-2. Bryan Little tied the game at 3 with his second of the game with 3:01 to go. Patric Hornqvist took a penalty in the final minute but the Kings couldn’t break the tie. In OT the Leafs had a quick breakaway chance for Mikael Backlund that Ryan Miller stopped. Kari Lehtonen made a big stop at the other end and Ryan McDonagh was sprung for another SH breakaway and beat Miller for the 4-3 win in OT.

Ben Scrivens picks up the first star as he stops all 8 goalie ratings he sees and the Bruins go on to defeat the punchless St.Louis Blues. Nothing seemed to go right in this one for the Blues. The computer mysteriously pulls the Blues goalie when on the PK. Not my doing and never caught it until the game was going. Strange occurrence/bug! Blues struggling to score goals in block two, and each visiting goalie seems to be the ghost of Tony Esposito.

Blues inability to score continues to haunt them. Then toss in another perfect goalie performance by the road netminder , and it spells disaster. Blues home block record falls to 1-4 as Tuuka Rask stops all 8 goalie ratings as Colorado picks up the win in St.Louis.